Wire cleaner



May 26, 1959 A. J. FREITAG 2,887,702

WIRE CLEANER Filed May 17, 1955 IN VEN TOR. 71 A0 08? J F551 ma ix/0M 4United States Patent C WIRE CLEANER August I. Freitag, Union, NJ.

1 Application May 17, 1955, Serial No. 508,966

8 Claims. 0. 15-23) My invention relates to wire stripping machinesuseful for cleaning, grinding, polishing as well as stripping insulationfrom wires or conductors coated with insulating coatings such as enamel,plastic, nylon, varnish, woven glass, and similar coatings.

There are not presently available completely universal, portable,light-weight, self-contained wire stripping machines. Equipment nowavailable is not particularly suitable for cleaning Wires of variousshapes whether they be round, square, or rectangular. Brush spacings areusually fixed and no simple adjustment mechanism which can be positivelylocked is available. I

The principal object of my invention is to provide a wire-strippingapparatus which is universal, portable, of light-weight, and completelyself-contained.

Another object of my invention is to provide such an apparatus which iscapable of cleaning wires of various cross-sectional shapes and one inwhich the brush spacings can be simply made by manual adjustment duringoperation or which can be locked in any desired position.

A further object of my invention is to provide such a device which mayquickly and easily be dis-assembled for cleaning purposes, inspectionand for changing the parts including the gear trains.

Briefly, in accordance with my invention, I provide a light-weightassembly including a prime mover in the form of an electric or fluidoperated motor coupled through a gear train to a pair of brushes whichcan be manually adjusted to move toward and from each other to vary thespacing therebetween. I provide a main housing which may be in the formof a casting. It is provided with a yoke within which a second housingor frame member is supported for pivotal movement. The first or mainhousing member supports a brush shaft rotatably mounted therein andextending therethrough. The shaft has mounted at its outer'end a brushand on its inner end a gear. The yoke portion of the housing rotatablysupports the drive shaft which also pivotally supports the secondhousing or frame member. The drive shaft has mounted on its inner end agear coupled through an idling gear in turn meshed with the brush geardescribed above. The second housing member supports at its free end asecond brush shaft having at its outer end a brush and in its inner enda driving gear. This driving gear in turn meshes with the driving gearof the drive shaft. Means are connected between the two housing membersfor moving the brushes toward and from each other to vary the spacingtherebetween. The gear train is enclosed within a casing supported onone of the housing members and in turn supports the driving motorcoupled through a detachable universal connection to the driving shaftof the gear train. The brush members are provided with guards, one ofwhich has an opening to serve as a guide for a wire to be positionedbetween the cleaning brushes.

" The invention will now be described with reference to the drawings, inwhich:

Fig. 1 is a perspective view showing one form of my invention but withthe driving motor only partially shown;

Fig. 2 is the brush end view of Fig. 1 with brushes an guards removed toshow details of construction and turned with respect to Fig. 1 andhaving a modified brush adjusting means;

Fig. 3 is a section taken along the line 3-3 of Fig. 2; Fig. 4 is asection taken along the line 44 of Fig. 2;

Fig. 5 is a partial longitudinal section showing details of constructionof the structure for coupling the driving motor and the gear traintogether; and

Fig. 6 shows details of the shields used with my invention.

Referring particularly to Figs. 1, 2, and 3, a device made according tomy invention includes the power unit shown generally at 10 which is alight-weight electric motor and a drive unit shown generally at 11. Thedrive unit comprises a pair of castings including a main frame orhousing 12 provided with a yoke 13 through which the drive shaft 14extends and which is rotatably mounted therein in bearings 15 and 16.Rotatably mounted adjacent drive shaft 14 and spaced therefrom is thebrush shaft 18 rotatably mounted in bearings 19 and 20. The outer end ofthe shaft carries a brush 21.

The second housing or frame 25 is provided with an extension 26 which ispivotally and rotatably supported on the shaft 14. The second brushshaft 27 is rotatably mounted and supported by hearings 19 and 20' inthe free end of the second housing member 25. A brush 28 is supported onshaft 27.

To adjust the brushes 21 and 28 toward and from each other I provide thehousing member 12 with the U-shaped extension 32 and the movable frame25 with the U- shaped extension 34. Mounted in the U-shaped extension 32is the spring guide 31 (see Fig. 1) extending between the U-shapedextensions and slidably through a rotatable member 33 supported in theU-shaped member 34. A biasing spring 31 is supported on guide 30 andforces the U-shaped members apart.

The movable housing member 25 is provided with a flange-like extension29 which may be manually pressed to swing the brushes toward each otheragainst the biasing spring 31; thus manual operation can be utilized formoving the brushes toward and from each other while holding the devicein the workers hand.

The gear train is housed within the gear guard or casing 35 secured tothe fixed housing member 12 by means of screws 36 to permit quickdetachment of the drive unit from the prime mover, that is, the Aironelectric motor, to expose the gears and permit inspection of orinterchange of the gears.

The drive shaft 14 is geared to the brush shaft 18 throught an idlergear 41 which, in turn, is meshed with the gear 42 fixed to the brushshaft 18. Gear 40 meshes with and drives gear 43 fixed to the otherbrush shaft 27. With this arrangement when brush 28 is rotatedclockwise, brush 21 is rotated counterclock-wise so that the wirepositioned between the brushes for cleaning will be pulled in the samedirection by both brushes. However, this arrangement can be changed sothat the brushes are rotated in the same direction causing the conductorpositioned between the brushes for cleaning to have oppositely directedforces applied thereto. This is accomplished by removing gear 41 andreplacing gear 40 with another gear having a longer axial dimensionwhereby it will mesh simultaneously with both gears 41 and 43.

In order to prevent insulation and other material from entering the gearcasing 35, I provide shields 70 and 71 (for details see Fig. 6) attachedto the housing 12 and frame 25. Shield 70 is provided with slot 72 topermit the frame 25 and shaft 27 to be moved toward housing 12. The slot73 receives shaft 14 when the brushes are moved to operating position.

The brushes 21 and 28 may be provided with brush guards 45 and 46secured to the frames and can easily be detached. Guard 46 may beprovided with an aperture 47 which acts as a guide for the conductor orwire being stripped or cleaned.

The driving motor'is coupled to the gear train by means of a universalcoupling which can be readily attached to or detached from the driveshaft. Drive shaft 14 (see Fig. is provided with a flattened end portion50 which is received within the tubular coupling member 51 provided witha transverse pin 52 which slidably engages the flattened end of thedrive shaft 14. The coupling member 51 in turn is connected to thetubular member 53 secured to the motor shaft 55 of motor 56 by means ofthe universal coupling element 54. Screws 57 and 58 extending throughthe back of the gear casing 35 fix the motor to the casing when theapparatus is assembled. Thus, the gears may be readily disconnected bydetaching casing 35 from the frame member 12 and the driving motor 56may in turn be readily detached from the casing 35 by unscrewing screws57 and 5-8.

In Fig. 2 I show a modification of the arrangement for moving thebrushes toward and from each other. The member 62 is threaded throughoutits length. The ends are received within the rotatable collars 61 and 60which are internally threaded for receiving the ends of the threaded rod62 which are reversely threaded on opposite ends. A knurled adjustingknob 63 is centrally fixed on rod 62 for causing rotation of rod 62.This causes the brushes to be moved toward and from each other. Aknurled nut 64 mounted at one end of the rod 62 may be used to lock thebrushes in position.

When it is desired to clean or strip a conductor, the brushes areadjusted toward or from each other for proper spacing by the flange 29which may be pressed by the operator or by the adjusting rod 62. Whenthe motor 56 is energized, it drives shaft 14 which, in turn, drives thebrush shafts 18 and 27 through the gear train comprising gears 41, 42and 43 meshed with the gear 40 on the drive shaft. It is obvious fromthe above description how the device may be disassembled for inspection,repair and cleaning.

Apparatus made according to my invention is completely universal,portable and light in weight and is self contained, thus permitting thedevice to be carried to and perform operations on heavy equipment whichis diflicult to move such, for example, as large motors, transformers,and the like.

The simple thumb adjustment mechanism can be positively locked in anydesired position to clean or strip wires of various cross-sections. Thepositive locking arrangement is particularly useful when the apparatusmade according to my invention is positively mounted, for example, on abench stand, or in a similar fixed position.

Any type of driving unit can be used, either an electric motor or afluid driven motor and because of the construction, as pointed outabove, the whole equipment can be readily taken down. Obviously thedevice may be made in small or large sizes to handle different kinds ofwork and the width of the brushes and the material of which the brushesare made can be varied. Also grinding wheels, polishing or sanding discscan be substituted for the brushes.

While no dust collecting system has been shown, this can be readilyadded to be supported by the housing. If desired, the gear casing may bepacked with grease or gears which require no lubrication such as nylongears can also be added.

' I claim:

1. A manually supportable and portable wire stripping apparatusincluding a housing member, a portion of which is formed as an integralyoke, a first shaft rotatably supported on said housing member andspaced from said yoke, a brush fixed to said first shaft, a second shaftextending through said yoke, a frame member pivotally supported on saidsecond shaft within said yoke, a third shaft on said frame member, asecond brush mounted on said third shaft, a gear train connected betweensaid second shaft and said first and third shafts, means for rotatingsaid members relative to each other to vary the spacing between saidbrushes and a prime mover connected to said second shaft for rotatingsaid gear train and said brushes, said prime mover being detachablymounted on said housing.

2. A wire stripping apparatus including a housing mem ber provided witha yoke, a first shaft extending through said yoke, a second shaftrotatably supported on said housing and spaced from said yoke, a brushfixed to said second shaft, a frame member pivotally supported withinsaid yoke and mounted on the shaft extending through said yoke, a thirdshaft spaced from the shaft extending through said yoke, a brush mountedon said third shaft and oppositely disposed to said first brush, saidmembers being provided at portions spaced from said yoke with U-shapedextensions, a spring guide extending between said U-shaped extensionsand pivotally fixed to one of said extensions and slidably connectedwith the other of said extensions, a biasing spring mounted on saidguide and positioned between said U-shaped extensions, and means on saidpivoted frame member for manually moving said members toward each otheragainst said spring, and driving means supported on said members andconnected to said first shaft and gear connections between all of saidshafts, for rotating said brushes.

3. A manually supportable and portable wire stripping apparatusincluding a housing member having an integral portion providing a yoke,a first shaft rotatably mounted in and extending through said yokeportion, a second shaft rotatably mounted in said housing member andspaced from said first shaft, a first brush mounted on one end of saidsecond shaft and a gear fixed to the other end of said second shaftwhereby said brush and gear are mounted on opposite sides of saidhousing member, a frame member having a portion pivotally mounted onsaid first shaft and positioned within said yoke, a third shaftrotatably supported on said pivoted frame member and spaced from saidyoke, a brush mounted on one end of said third shaft and oppositelydisposed to said first brush, a gear mounted at the other end of saidthird shaft, a driving gear mounted on said first shaft and meshing withsaid gear on said third shaft and an idling gear connected between saiddriving gear and the gear on said second shaft, a prime mover mountedonsaid housing and a universal coupling member connected between saidprime mover and said first shaft for driving said gear train and fordriving said brushes, and means on said members for moving said brushestoward and from each other to vary the spacing between said brushes, andmeans for quickly attaching and. detaching said prime mover from saidhousing members, including a casing covering said gears and supportingsaid prime mover.

4. A manually supportable and portable wire stripping apparatusincluding a housing member having an integral yoke portion, a firstshaft rotatably mounted in and extending through said yoke. portion, asecond shaft rotatably mounted in said housing member and spaced fromsaid first shaft and said yoke, a first brush mounted on one end of saidsecond shaft and a gear fixed to the other end of said second shaftwhereby said brush and gear are mounted on opposite sides of saidhousing member, a frame member having a portion pivotally mounted onsaid first shaft and positioned within said yoke, a thirdshaft rotatablysupported on said pivoted frame member and spaced from said yoke, abrush mounted on one end of said third shaft and oppositely disposed tosaid first brush, a gear mounted at the other end of said third shaft, adriving gear mounted on said first shaft and meshing with said gear onsaid third shaft and an idling gear connected between said driving gearand the gear on said second shaft, a prime mover and a universalcoupling brushes, and means on said members for moving said brushestoward and from each other to vary the spacing between said brushes, adetachable casing mounted on said housing member and providing a coverfor said gear train and coupling member, said prime mover beingsupported on said casing.

5. A wire stripping apparatus including a first housing member providedwith a yoke, a shaft extending thru said yoke, a second shaft rotatablysupported in said housing and spaced from said yoke, a brush fixed tosaid second shaft, 21 second housing member pivotally supported withinsaid yoke and mounted on the shaft extending through said yoke, a thirdshaft spaced from the shaft extending through said yoke, a second brushmounted on said third shaft and oppositely disposed to said first brush,said housing members being provided at portions spaced from said yokewith U-shaped extensions, a spring guied extending between said U-shapedextensions and pivotally fixed to one of said extensions and slidablyconnected with the other of said extensions, a biasing spring mounted onsaid guide and positioned between said U-shaped extensions, and means onsaid pivoted housing member for manually moving said pivoted housingmember against said spring, driving means supported on said framemembers and connected to said second and third shafts for driving saidbrushes.

6. A manually supportable and portable wire stripping apparatusincluding a first housing member having an integral portion providing ayoke, a shaft extending through said yoke, a second shaft rotatablysupported in said housing and spaced from said yoke, a brush fixed tosaid second shaft, a second housing member pivotally supported withinsaid yoke and mounted on the shaft extending through said yoke, a thirdshaft spaced from the shaft extending through said yoke, a second brushmounted on said third shaft and oppositely disposed to said first brush,said housing members being provided at portions spaced from said yokewith U-shaped extensions, means including a threaded rod extendingbetween said U-shaped extensions, each of said U-shaped extensionshaving a rotatable collar mounted therein, each of siad collars beingthreaded to receive a threaded end of said threaded rod, and means fixedto said rod for rotating said rod for causing said brushes to be movedtoward and from each other, and driving means supported on said framemembers and connected to said second and third shafts for driving saidbrushes.

7. A manually supportable and portable wire stripping apparatusincluding a housing member having an integral yoke portion, a firstshaft rotatably mounted in and extending through said yoke portion, asecond shaft rotatably mounted in said housing member and spaced fromsaid first shaft, a first brush mounted on one end of said second shaftand a gear fixed to the other end of said second shaft whereby saidbrush and gear are mounted on opposite sides of said housing member, aframe member having a portion pivotally mounted on said first shaft andpositioned within said yoke, a third shaft rotatably supported on saidpivoted frame member and spaced from said yoke, a brush mounted on oneend of said third shaft and oppositely disposed to said first brush, agear mounted at the other end of said third shaft, a driving gearmounted on said first shaft and meshing with said gear on said thirdshaft and an idling gear connected between said driving gear and thegear on said second shaft, the oppositely disposed portions of saidhousing member and said frame member spaced from said yoke being ofequal dimensions longitudinally of said shafts supported thereby, aprime mover and a universal coupling member connected between said primemover and said first shaft for driving said gear train for driving saidbrushes, and means on said members for moving said brushes toward andfrom each other to vary the spacing between said brushes, a casing forsaid gears attached to said housing, and overlapping shields carried bysaid housing and said frame for closing the gear casing.

8. A manually supportable and portable wire stripping apparatusincluding a housing member having an integral yoke portion, a firstshaft rotatably mounted in and extending through said yoke portion, asecond shaft rotatably mounted in said housing member and spaced fromsaid first shaft and said yoke, a first brush mounted on one end of saidsecond shaft and a gear fixed to the other end of said second shaftwhereby said brush and gear are mounted on opposite sides of saidhousing member, a frame member having a portion pivotally mounted onsaid first shaft and positioned within said yoke, a third shaftrotatably supported on said pivoted frame member and spaced from saidyoke, a brush mounted on one end of said third shaft and oppositelydisposed to said first brush, a gear mounted at the other end of saidthird shaft, a driving gear mounted on said first shaft and meshing withsaid gear on said third shaft and an idling gear connected between saiddriving gear and the gear on said second shaft, a prime mover and auniversal coupling member connected between said prime mover and saidfirst shaft for driving said gear train for driving said brushes, andmeans on said members for moving said brushes toward and from each otherto vary the spacing between said brushes, a detachable casing mounted onsaid housing member and providing a covering for said gear train andcoupling member, said prime mover being supported on said casing, abrush shield carried by said housing member and a brush shield carriedby said frame member, said shields being coextensive with and enclosingsaid brushes and overlapping each other, one of said shields beingprovided with an aperture through which a wire may be extended to aposition between said brushes.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS196,333 Capewell Oct. 23, 1877 2,334,714 Knight Nov. 23, 1943 2,619,663Johnson et al Dec. 2, 1952 2,704,856 Jones Mar. 29, 1955

